Failure Incentive

We have our dice pools and we are anxious and excited to really show the ST and other players what our PCs are made of and what our XP has bought us to make our characters certified badasses.

We roll them dice...

"How the %&^$ did I get 0 Successes?! I have at least 9 dice in that pool?!?!"

Then here it comes, "Oh, wait, I totally meant to.." or "Wait, I forgot to subtract..." or just a flat out "... can I do that again but with -1 stacked on it?".

Sucks, don't it? (Mmmm, donut)

Especially if it is a Very Important Roll™: You fail to spot the clue. You fail to knock out the enemy. You fail to climb to safety.

Now you are stuck and you are full of the sad and your attitude is spoiled and the action feels flat and you just really hate to lose at this one thing. Now you are not into it and going through the motions. Like a really bad date. It isn't the ST's fault and some players actually like to lose.

Those maniacs...

What if I told you losing can be fun...

Seriously, how can losing be fun?

Well, that is a whole big discussion we are not going to go into too deep here, however...

While we utilize New World of Darkness rules here, GMC did come up with a pretty clever way to reward a player when their PC really screwed the pooch ("ARF!"), sorry, I meant to say 'make love'.

So how can we incorporate that here at Fallcoast? You already get PrP XP for finishing something, win or lose.

Winning is it's own reward, right?

What if I told you losing can be rewarding as well?

What this proposes is fairly simple:

You fail an important roll, Bad or Really Bad (Failure, Dramatic Failure) and you take the consequences for it.

You RP out your flaw that has significance in the PrP.

You gain a flaw because of the PrP. (One Eye, Disfigured, etc.)

Because of that, you get some bonus XP as a consolation prize.

How It Works

You can only gain this XP through a PrP, not standard RP.

You are allowed to take 1 Failure Incentive per Type.

Meaning you cannot take the XP awarded because you gained One Eye and Missing Limb in the same Scene.

You can get more than one Type per PrP.

The XP is added to the Base PrP XP you would normally get.

Players involved in the PrP are added to the job when it is submitted for XP. They can then list out their awards with a brief pointing out of why they gain it.

This doesn't need to be in detail. It could be copy/pasted from the log. "My PC, Slate Fistcrunch, failed to notice the clue even though he has a Wits+Investigation pool of 7."

Gaining a Flaw as a consequence of a PrP due to failure, inaction or poor decisions.+2xp

Having an eye gouged out in a fight (One Eye). Gaining a fear of tight spaces (Claustrophobia) from being locked in a trunk for hours.

This does not include Derangements gained from loss of Morality Trait.

Example:

Hobgoblins are planning on ambushing a group of Changelings on a Trod.

My character, Slate Fistcrunch, is there.

In a roll to detect the ambush, Slate Fistcrunch has a tidy pool of Wits 3 and Composure 3 with the Trained Observer Merit at 1. He ends up getting 0's, which sucks double because he has Trained Observer 1 on top of that. Because of that, he doesn't spot them and so does no one else, so the Hobs get the jump on them. Oh no! (.25xp - Failing a PrP Mission Critical Roll)

By stroke of further dumb luck, Slate Fistcrunch was in the back, the ambushed happened up the Trod a bit to those in front. His Lame flaw slows down his ability to reach the battle and I pose that up, and I decide to take Initiave last for it to sweeten the realism. (.5xp - RPing Flaw).

In the fight, Slate Fistcrunch rolls to strike a Hobgoblin and net 0 successes. Being a damn good brawler with Strength 4 and Brawl 4? It is a blow to his ego and is humiliating. (.10xp - Failing a Skilled Roll.)

Because of this, the hobgoblin takes his serrated great axe that lands a nasty hit on Slate Fistcrunch right on the arm meats that pushes him into agg. If he does not get medical attention or some healz in? He could lose it completely; it is hanging on by a thread of bone. I say he loses it but that was the price paid for someone keeping him from bleeding out. (2xp - Flaw: One Arm)

So at the end of that PrP, I gain the base 3xp from the Threat Level of the PrP plus an additional 2.85 (2+.5+.25+.10) for a total of 5.85 xp for the Scene where my PC suffered a rather crappy chain of events.

I could use that for story fodder, in Slate Fistcrunch's case, to have the XP to get a Token Limb to replace it.

"How did you get that Token limb?"

"Well, there were these hobgoblins and I was just having a really bad day..."